Grab-bucket.



No. 802,133. PATENTED OGT.17, 1905. A. E. BROWN.

GRAB BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.22,1904.

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No. 802,133. PATENTED OCT. 17, 1905. A. E. BROWN.

GRAB BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.22.1904.

11 SHEETSSHEET 2.

[NV/EN TOR.

No. 802,133. PATBNTED OCT. 17, 1905.

v A. E. BROWN.

GRAB BUGKET.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.22,1904.

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No. 802,133. PATENTED OCT. 1'7, 1905.

A. E. BROWN.

GRAB BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED DEG.22,1904.

11SHEETS-SHEET 5.

4 A TTOR/VE r.

' WITNESSES.-

No. 802,133. PATENTED OCT. 17,1905. A. E. BROWN.

GRAB BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.22,1904.

11 SHEETS-811E111 6.

A TTORNE y.

No. 802,133. PATENTED OCT. 17, 1905. A. E. BROWN.

GRAB BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.22,1904.

11 SHEETS-SHEET 7- INVENTOR.

WITNESSES BY ,Q y

ATTORNEY.

No. 802,133. PATENTED OCT. 17, 1905. A. E. BROWN.

GRAB BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED DEG.22,1904.

11 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

INVENT IR.

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No. 802,138. PATENTED OCT. 17, 1905. A. B. BROWN.

GRAB BUCKET. I APPLICATION FILED DEG.22,1904.

11 SHEETS-SHEET 1 0.

No. 802,133. 'PATENTED 001:; 17, 1905.

A. E. BROWN. GRAB BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED 1330.22, 1904.

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UNITED STATES ALEXANDER E. BROWN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE BROWN PATENT OFFICE.

HOISTING MACHINERY COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

GRAB-BUCKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 17, 1905.

Application filed December 22, 1904. Serial No. 238,010.

T0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER E. BROWN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grab-Buckets for the Automatic Handling of Coal, Ore, and other Material, as to which I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description, due reference being had and intended to the several drawings accompanying this specification, and which I mean to have considered a part of the same.

My invention belongs to the general class of buckets for automatically taking up material from vessels, cars, or stock piles, wherein the load is gathered and held by bringing together two oppositely-related bucket jaws or spades that are movably fulerumed upon the bucket proper, and to the particular class of such buckets wherein the opening and closing movement of the jaws is effected by simultaneously oscillating inwardly-extending arm-pieces of the same in a vertical direction.

A distinct type of the improvement last above referred to is that covered and described in Letters Patent of the United States that were issued to me under date of March 17, 1903, and Serial No. 723,133. In the bucket therein shown and described the inner ends of said arm-pieces are pivotally connected to the trunnions of a block or head, and the ends of said trunnions are movably seated in vertical grooves on each of the inner faces of the bucket-frame, whereby said block or head may be moved up and down relatively to said frame and the jaws or blades opened and closed. In order, however, to accomplish all the functions for which the bucket last referred to is adapted, or any other of its class so far as I am aware, at least two sets of ropes, with their corresponding windingdrums and other mechanisms, are required. In the particular bucket in question these ropes consist of the hoisting-rope, whereby the bucket is raised and lowered, and the bucket-operating rope, whereby it is opened and closed.

It is the purpose of my present invention to provide a grab-bucket'that shall be equally efficient in all its operations with any bucket of the two-rope type, but that employs but one rope for all its operations, and consequently by dispensing with parts and mechanisms required by other bucket types largely reduces construction costs and simplifies operative movements.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of one form of said grab-bucket when open, with dotted and broken lines, respectively, showing the path and position of its parts when the same is closed. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same looking toward the left of Fig. 1 with a portion thereof removed to reveal certain interior details in section. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the dumping-latch or trip employed. Fig.- 4 is an enlarged sectional view through the line a: :20 of Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the cross-head feature of my device. Fig. 6 is a side view of a second form of my said improvement when opened, with dotted and broken lines having functions corresponding with thoseI introduce into Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is afront view of the same looking toward the left of Fig. 6, with a portion thereof removed to reveal certain interior details in section. Fig. 8 is a plan view of the dumping-latch used in said second form of bucket. Figs. 9 and 10 are enlarged sectional views of latching details employed when the head C is out of and in engagement, respectively, with the arm pieces or partspp. Fig. 11 is a plan view of one end of said head C. Fig. 12 is an enlarged sectional view of the various latching details shown in Figs. 9 and 10 when the bucket is closed. Fig. 13 shows the same details when in position to allow the bucket to open. Fig. 14 shows certain parts of Fig. 13 from a point of View ninety degrees from that of Fig. 13. Fig. 15 shows the relative position of the parts shown in Fig. 12 when the bucket-bail is about to engage the bucketconveying trolley. Fig. 16 is a similar view of the parts shown in Fig. 14: when the bail is about to engage the bucket-conveying trolley, and Fig. 17 is a sectional view on lines y g of Fig. 12.

Similar reference characters are used on similar parts throughout the drawings.

Bin both instances is the bucket as a whole. It is made up of an exterior housing or frame H, flaring at its outer portion to the front and rear and having securely fastened along the bottom of its sides, both within and without the same, a rail or track L, upon which are hung sliding blocks or pieces b, pivotally connected with forward arm pieces or parts 1) p of the bucket jaws or spades J J at each side thereof. The jaws or spades J J are given a configuration and are suspended at such angle relatively to the arm-pieces 1010 as seems best adapted to their offices.

Centrally within the housing H and transversely of the same I locate a block or head (J, carrying a set or series of sheaves M M, mounted therein. The head is semicylindrical in shape and carries two cross-pieces 0 0, between and to which the sheaves M M are suitably mounted and turn. Its endsare rabbeted up and down at 1" r, so as to form an upright groove or recess in said ends that overlap at a sliding bearing respectively with twointurned angle-bars g 9, that are fastened in pairs vertically upon and throughout the opposite interior sides of the housing H. Each of such pairs of angle-bars g g by their said location one with respect to the other make up a pair of upright guides or grooves adapted to receive, respectively, at an operative fit the casting or coupling-pieces a a, to the opposite sides of which the inner ends of the arm-pieces p are linked or coupled between the ears (6 and a in each case. In the device shown in Figs. 1 to 5 the said coupling-pieces a and a extend upward centrally at n, which extensions are provided with sockets n at the front thereof and are pivoted in their seats by the pins o. In the device illustrated by Figs. 6 to 17 said coupling-pieces contain-rocking hooks it 71, that project upwardly from their centers. The grooves formed by g g extend up and down said housing and at their lowest limits have stops d d, (one of which is shown in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 6,) adapted to be encountered by the coupling-pieces a a" when at such points in their downward travel. Tis the trolley, and R the operatingropes, which are alternately reeved around the series of sheaves M in the bottom block and M in the top block. In the form of bucket shown in Figs. 1 to 6 one end of said rope is fastened to the overhead trolley T and the other leads to the source of power. In that form shown in Figs. 6 to 11 one end is fastened to the end of the trolleys track and the other connected with the source of power.

On each side of the sheaves M, within the block (3, I provide a blade latching and unlatching contrivance made up of the upright plungers P, penetrating and arranged to work against and compress helical springs S. Said plungers are pierced at their lower ends by rocking levers Z, having their inner extremities pivoted to the block 0 and their outer extremities, through the links 6 t, to the upper portion of tumbler-like bars W W. The lower portions of the bars W W are connected with the rocking levers Z by inwardly-extending bell-cranks c c and links ff. To insure a simultaneous and equal catch of the tumblerbars W W in the sockets a when said bars are actuated by their respective plungers P in the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 to 6, I

provide a connecting-rod D, united to the said plungers by bell-cranks ww. In both forms shown, as a convenient means of locking the bucket jaws or spades J apart when extended the sockets n they are made with fingers at their tops, and the rocking pieces or extensions n in the one case, Figs. 1 to 6, and the rocking hooks h in the other, Figs. 6 to 11, are carried downward between and into bearing against said fingers. At suitable points at the upward limit of the grooves g are located stops d d, and in-proximity therewith in vertical relations with the plungers P are the trips A A, connected to the trip-bail A, which is duly fulcrumed, as indicated at A in Figs. 3 and 8.

In the arrangement illustrated by Figs. 6 to 16 a sliding hook-piece F, having one or more cross shelves or ledges F to receive and sustain the hooks it, is fitted between the grooves g near their upward limit. Said hook-piece is hinged or joined at its top to the bailB by the pin '0, whose ends are journaled in oval slots U in bars or brackets K, that extend downwardly from the top of the housing H for the purpose. Z6 represents bars radially pivoted to said housing, with their free ends bestriding and in bearing against the pin 4; in order to resist the thrust of the same in its movement within the oval U. Suspending the hook-piece F in the oval slot U, and thereby allowing said piece an up and down sliding capacity within the longitudinal dimen sions of said slot, affords a surer engagement between the hook it and said piece F under all conditions than if said hook-piece F were fixed. In this arrangement the cross-shelf F is so located that when the couplings a a, in engagement with the block (3, are carried upward in the bucket to their highest limit the hook it will be somewhat above said shelf F as shown in Fig. 15, and the hook-piece itself will hang from the lowest part of the oval U. In this condition the jaws of the bucket are necessarily entirely closed one against the other,-

and the load is wholly sustained by the rope R; but when this rope is now further wound up and then slackened, so that the trunnions m m engage the'trolley-hooks T, it is evident that the load is transferred from the rope R to the bail B and that the bucket itself will sink through the length of the oval and bring the sustaining-hooks it into operative connection with the shelf F and hold the castings a a and the block C in their uppermost positions. The utility of this arrangement is apparent when it is considered that frequently in getting a grab the bucket-jaws are held somewhat apart by lumps of coal or ore, and if the cross-shelf F were at a fixed point calculated only for a condition of entire closure of the jaws the hooks it could not be brought up to said shelf and the bucket locked.

In the form of bucket last referred to tip ping-guards k are located near the top of the housing H to prevent the hooks it from becoming disengaged from the hook-piece F while the bucket is being carried along the bridge-tramway upon thetrolley-hooksT. An attachment part k is appended to the plunger P to lift said guards k from their service positions when the block is at its upper limit of travel and is opened, all as indicated in Figs. 9, 10, 12, 13,15. Near said upper limit I locate between the guides g an upwardly-inclined transverse bar or projection for the purpose of deflecting the hook it in its upward travel in said guides, and to prevent said hook-piece F from being pushed upward out of its normal position by said hook it while the latter is sliding over its lower part I provide a finger E on the deflector E, project ing upwardly therefrom into a slot F in the hook-piece F. (See Figs. 14, 16.) In said form of bucket, B is a bail terminating with side trunnions m for engagement with the trolley-hooks T in the usual manner. In the bucket illustrated by Figs. 1 to 6 such bail may be omitted, as the bucket is held to its trolley during its travel by the operatingrope R. The tripping-ropes used for both buckets may be in the form of a trapeze and are to be located so as to be encountered and drawn along by the trip-bail A as the trolley with its bucket approaches the point for dumping.

The operation of the bucket will be plain to those skilled in the art from the several d rawings,aided by the foregoing explanations. When above the point for grabbing its load,the movable block and coupling having previously been disconnected,the coupling will have been carried by the weight of the jaws to the lower point of its travel through the bucket-housing, and the bucket-jaws will be distended and ready for its load. The bucket is then lifted out of the trolley-hooks T and lowered to and upon the pile when the operating-ropeR is further paid out, so that the block C shall descend until in the one case the tumblers to encounter the sockets n and in the other the ends of the hooks 72 and the engagement of block and coupling is thereby made. The rope R is now taken in, and the first effect will be by raising the block and coupling to close the jaws beneath and around the load. During this upward travel of the block and coupling within the bucket the hook b will assume an upright or vertical position, as shown in Fig. 10. Near the upper limit of its travel it will encounter the deflector E, which will throw the hook it out of its vertical position and enable it to pass upward and against the finger E without disturbing the normal position of the hookpiece F. Having thus slid over said deflector, the hook it will resume its upright position and be ready to engage the shelf F when the bail B comes into engagement with the trolley-hooks T. (See Fig. 15.) It is manifest that just before the hook it resumes its vertical position, as described, it will strike the tipping-guard R and that having passed in front of the same said guard will fall to its normal place behind and in contact with said hook. The bucket is now raised to the trolley and seated in the hooks T in the usual manner in the second form of bucket shown, whereby its weight will be transferred from the rope R to the bail B. The trolley and bucket are then traversed along the bridge to the dumping-point, where the bail B encounters the trip and depresses the plunger P, which in turn withdraws the tumblers W from the sockets n in the case of the first-shown form of bucket, and from beneath the hooks h in the case of the second the couplings become disconnected from their blocks and are free to descend to the stops d and the jaws to distend themselves and dump the load.

In the first form of bucket, as will be plain, the jaws are held together during the buckets travel by the continuous pull of the operating or hoist rope, while in the second form said jaws are held closed by the books it having encountered and engaged the sliding hook-piece F, and the bucket'itself is sustained by the bail B upon the trolley-hooks.

Having now described my said invention, what I claim, and desire to cover by Letters Patent, is

1. In a hoisting or grab bucket having oppositely-related jaws pivotally connected together within a housing provided for the purpose by a coupling that is movable vertically through said housing, and is automatically attachable to the same when at or near the top, the combination of a similarly movable sheave-block, detachably connected to said coupling, a fixed sheave-block above said movable block, an operating rope or chain suitably reeved around said sheave-blocks, a bail or other suitable means for engaging said bucket with an overhead trolley, and suitable means for detaching said movable block and coupling from each other, and said coupling from said housing when at or near the upper limit of their travel through said housing, and of automatically connecting said block and coupling together when at or near the lower limit thereof, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a hoisting or grab bucket having oppositely-related jaws pivotally connected together within a housing provided for the purpose, by a coupling that is movable vertically through said housing, and is automatically attachable to the same when at or near the top,

&

the combination of a similarly movable sheave-block, detachably connected to said coupling, a fixed sheave-block above said movable block, an operating rope or chain suitably reeved around said sheave-blocks, a bail or other suitable means for engaging said bucket with an overhead trolley, and suitable means for automatically disconnecting said movable block and coupling from each other and said 10 coupling from said housing when the same are 

